Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
One time I showed a VFR chart to a Delta Airlines DC-10 captain. To my shock he didn't know what it was. In his entire career he had never had to work with anything that was VFR. I had another guy who was a check airman at Horizon Air who had never filed his own flight plan or called a fight service station. Both of these guys were ex-military. They didn't need those skills at all.
Airline pilots could skip a lot of what is taught to new GA pilots. Why would an RJ pilot ever need to preform a soft field landing, forward slip, stalls, spins, dead reckoning, flight planning....ect?
Maybe the FAA could create a "121 only" limitation on the commercial licence? They could also make a "121 Jet Only" limitation on multi engine ratings. Why would an RJ pilot ever need to know how to feather a prop?
SkyHigh
"Never say, Never" and "If you don't use it, you lose it."
Sure as we progress in our careers we use our VFR techniques and other skills less often and sometimes forget altogether. It was two years ago a ex-UAL captain asked me "How do we pickup an IFR cleareance from a non-towered airfield?" This very basic step that was probably one of the first things taught to a fleging instrument student. This just goes to show how the basics are just as important as the advanced training and skills we employ in our daily jobs. Because you never know when you will find yourself in any one of a variety of circumstances.